The Searchers & Ride the High Country: Critical Review

What Makes a Man to Wander? The Transient’s Search for Redemption

            Towards the twilight stages of the mythic Western, several of the usual elements involved in it evolved and became much more complex. As the American audience changed, so too did the American storyteller. The grandiosity and epic nature of these latter myths that are revealed to us on screen portray a depth of issues that challenge its audience into analysis of our society and our deepest fundamental beliefs. Two films that reveal the rich complexities of the issues facing the US are The Searchers (John Ford, 1956) and Ride the High Country (Sam Peckinpah, 1962). Some significant issues that are explored in these films are morality, racism, reconciliation, and religion.

Familiar figures are presented to us like Ethan Edwards (John Wayne), Steve Judd (Joel McCrea), and Gil Westrum (Randolph Scott) , however there is something much more peculiar and opaque about these characters that audiences may find difficult to examine on the surface. With the characters having to deal with an outer conflict that is apparent, there is something ruminating deep within them; nothing that is verbally conveyed but can be delineated through the actions and emotional responses that these characters play out through the films. There is a constant inward struggle plaguing these characters. Oddly, they always seem to enter from and exit into the margins of society; appearing and disappearing into a vast landscape. I argue that these struggles are based on their inabilities to conform to the social constructs of subjective moral principles, and in analyzing this notion one may conclude that the distinction between right, wrong, good and evil is full of ambiguity and uncertainty. The mythic Western figure is doomed to fall into a life of transience and an endless search for redemption.

          In The Searchers, the idea of transience is presented to us at the start of the film, which is an important theme to this narrative. If we analyze it deeply it could provide some insight. First off, what is a transient? The dictionary definition is a person who inhabits a place for only a short period of time. As the opening title credits begin rolling it is accompanied by a song written and composed by Stan Jones and performed by The Songs of the Pioneers. The lyrics present intriguing questions that pertain to the struggles of an individual entering into and becoming a part of society;

What makes a man to wander?
What makes a man to roam?
What makes a man leave bed and board,
and turn his back on home?

Ride away,
Ride away,
Ride away

                             (Stan Jones, 1956)

The first scene of the film depicts the landscape from the inside of a dark cabin. The landscape is highly contrasted to the inner dwellings of the home. What can we make of this? Perhaps true answers are embedded within the vast landscape as opposed to being within the dark cabin which could represent society’s constructed answers to fundamental moral questions. The transient who is played by Ethan Edwards (Wayne) enters into the narrative from a mysterious and complex past.

           

 Similarly, in Ride the High Country Steve Judd enters into a town of unfamiliarity, full of modern buildings and technology. He traverses the town with a sort of naivety draped on his face while thinking he was being greeted by a cheering crowd. A police officer yells, “Get out of the way old man!” Steve is in a place where he and the audience know he does not belong. Steve is a shadow representing a past that is almost forgotten and unappreciated as revealed by the bankers where the deal to transport twenty thousand dollars worth of gold is made. The bankers tell Steve that they are not concerned about the past and want to focus on the present. This statement is not only felt by the bankers but can represent the feelings of the town and beyond to society in general. Steve represents the past and is unable to be understood by the community that surrounds him. As Michael Bliss, the author of Justified Lives: Morality and Narrative in the Films of Sam Peckinpah, states, “Given the way that the film approves of Steve’s morality and criticizes that of civilization, it seems more likely that it is the world that has lost touch with Steve.” (Bliss). Steve agrees to the deal of transporting gold, but there is something more at stake for Steve than being able to get a monetary reward. He is on a quest of reconciliation. This higher purpose drives his motivations for being able to live up to principles that are deeply personal and complex.

            Ethan Edwards also has a perception of the world that is personal and complex. At several instances in the film the audience is jolted by actions played out by Ethan that seem to surface from an embroiled and conflicted conscience. Soon after the massacre of Ethan’s family, the search for Lucy and Debbie begins. When the group of searchers happens upon a dead Comanche Ethan begins to shoot out the eyes of the corpse. He states that by shooting the eyes out the spirit will be cursed to eternally wander. Some insight on this scene is stated by Robert B. Pippin in his essay What is a Western? Politics and Self-Knowledge in John Ford’s The Searchers. Pippin suggests that “it manifests again the self-hatred theme, since the description of someone who must “wander forever between the winds” fits Ethan more than anyone.” (Pippin, 2009).

            Furthermore, it may be too simple to suggest that this reaction of Ethan’s is based on racial-hatred, but more on self-conflict and confusion. For example, the act of massacre on the helpless buffalo is another scene where Ethan’s hatred arises. He justifies this act by insinuating that if he systematically slaughters the herd, the Comanche will have nothing to eat and will starve. The sentiment, which may or may not have been incidental in the film, is a known fact in American history. The buffalo were nearly instinct with the encroachment of the land by white settlement. Shortly after, upon hearing the bugles of the army rangers, Ethan and Marty are introduced to a scene of the same type of systematic genocide inflicted on a Native tribe. Ethan’s reaction to this is not of joy but of deep sorrow. Finding Look murdered is testament to his dejected state, as he pulls the blanket over her face. Ethan’s anti-Indian racism gets only more ambiguous. Thus Ethan is doomed from the onset to be a transient. It is fitting that he is compared to a spirit, who cannot be seen and understood by society, is doomed to wander forever.

            Both films have religious subtext that is worth analyzing in the attempt to answer or rationalize the transience that plagues the characters. Christianity is used as a thematic tool, but it also is a tool to decipher between good and evil for the characters. Sometimes it could be subjective and shaped into a twisted perception of morality which is proven harmful. For example, in Ride, Peckinpah takes the audience to the Knudsen Farm where Gil, Steve and Heck are greeted by the religious Knudsen and his daughter Elsa. As soon as Elsa sees the men coming she darts into the house to change from her boyish clothing to feminine attire. This can suggest two possibilities; Firstly, Knudsen is attempting to disguise his daughter from the hungry eyes of men and secondly, Elsa chooses to wear men’s clothes to protect herself from her father because of an incestuous undertone that could be deciphered from the characteristics of their relationship.

            Knudsen is an appropriate character in analyzing, considering how religion is commented on in the film. At the surface he is very religious; however when the narrative goes deeper into his character the audience finds out just how deplorable and shocking his actual behavior really is. For example, after he catches Elsa meeting with Heck in secret he confronts her in their home where he strikes her. Immediately following he backs away into the darkness (which could symbolize his ignorance) and begins citing scripture. This scene is insightful in beginning to unfold the notions of how a person can be educated by the social constructs of religion, but can also be morally deficient. Steve is highly contrasted with Knudsen. Steve is not on a quest to change the world. He is on a quest of redemption. The intentions of Steve are pure and just, as opposed to Ethan who at many times in The Searchers acts out of violence and hatred. Yet both of these characters are searching for something profound in hopes of justifying themselves in society. The question is do they ever succeed?

            In both films Ethan and Steve are on a quest of redemption. While Steve’s morality is distinct, Ethan’s is uncertain. The acts of violence and dialogue expounding hate and racism, illustrates Ethan as possessing bad moral judgment, however at several instances this illustration comes into question. It seems that his self-hatred is projected onto others subtly. For example, after the scene where Ethan and Marty discover the massacred Native tribe, they make their way to the army camp in hopes to find Debbie. When they enter the camp they find that there are some white girls that were there, around the same age Debbie would be. Upon seeing these girls, Ethan and Marty find that they have completely dissimilated from being “white” and culturally assimilated into being Natives themselves. Failing to find Debbie they exit, but the camera focuses in on Ethan as he is exiting the door. His face is not that of disgust or racial hatred, but of an almost empathetic gesture to the plight of the young women. The complications and mysterious nature of Ethan only get more complex as the narrative progresses.

            Perhaps the answer to Ethan’s complexity is his actual search for Debbie and what he chooses to do once he found her. When he discovers of Scar’s whereabouts, his initial confrontation with Scar provides much of our understanding of Ethan than what was formerly revealed to the audience. As he is greeted by Scar (a blue eyed and indistinct character much like Ethan) they both discover that they understand each other more than they previously believed. Ethan “speaks pretty good Comanche” and Scar “speaks pretty good American.” Upon entering Scar’s tent, Ethan and Marty are introduced to his wives and discover Debbie to be one of them. It would seem that it is Ethan’s great fear to have his only niece to be a Comanche. Afterwards he nearly murders Debbie in yet another jolt to the audience’s conception of Ethan’s moral judgment.

            At the final battle scene and climax of the film, Ethan, Marty and the other deputies find that Scar’s tribe is camped near town. Marty firmly believes that Ethan will murder Debbie if he got the chance so he offers to infiltrate the camp to retrieve Debbie safely. As Ethan and the deputies start to invade, Ethan in his last violent act of the film discovers a dead Scar, yet scalps him anyway. This sensationalist act could be seen as a way of concluding revenge on Scar in the only way Ethan knows, which is violent. At the critical moment of the film, Ethan chases Debbie down. At first it may seem like he is going to trample her but in redemptive fashion chooses to spare and accept her. As Robert B. Pippin mentions in his essay, “he (Ethan) is like Huck Finn, who feels guilty for not turning in Jim even though he sincerely believes Jim is stolen property and that he is morally obligated to return him.” With this connection, the distinction between socially constructed views of moral right and wrong are unclear, and even though Ethan might feel the need to enact his “racist principles” by killing Debbie, he cannot. For what he felt in his heart overcame his moral, social, and racial education.

            This moral tension is also seen within the framework of Ride the High Country. Gil is situated as a counter weight to Steve’s moral quest. His ambitions are too take what he thought life full of bitterness and failures owed to him. Gil attempts to corrupt Steve but fails time and again. Gil fails to see Steve’s convictions as being at a much higher principle. It is also the failings of Knudsen, and the people of Course Gold to clearly see what Steve stands for. It is something much more than gold, woman, or booze. It is a self- justification and redemption narrative. One that is completely personal. As Steve states, “I just want to enter into my house justified.” The final scene in Ride is heroic and tragic. Steve and Gil redeem their friendship with one last stand against Billy and his two remaining brothers. At the end of the gun fight Steve is mortally wounded and wishes not to be seen in death. His wish is to be remembered as he lived his last days; a redeemed hero of the highest moral principles.

            The denouement and final scenes of The Searchers and Ride the High Country both provide provocative conclusions of the characters Ethan and Steve. Ethan fades back into the landscape much like he entered. The view from inside the home looks out on Ethan as he disappears. He still is not able or willing to rejoin society and will most likely continue his journey into transience to attain something that is inexplicable. The ending in Ride gives a more distinct conclusion to Steve. His death is both incredibly heroic and tragic. The mythic Western figure that Steve represents is only carried on by Gil, who is apparently near death too, as he states during Steve’s final minutes, “I’ll see you soon.” The tragedy is that Steve and Ethan and the myth that embodies them is a forgotten one; left in the margins where society fails to acknowledge.

Works Cited

Bliss, M. (1993). Riding High on Morality. In M. Bliss, Justified (pp. 33-57). Chicago: Illinois University Press.

Ford, J. (Director). (1956). The Searchers [Motion Picture].

Peckinpah, S. (Director). (1962). Ride the High Country [Motion Picture].

Pippin, R. B. (2009). What is a Western? Politics and Self Knowledge in John Ford's The Searchers. Critical Inquiry, 223-246.

Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping: Critical Review

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Redemption through Memory: Analyzing Narration in Robinson’s Housekeeping

                  Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson deals with many issues that are deeply personal and complex. The issues that seem to plague the main characters of the novel are loneliness, depression, and an inability to connect with the outside world. Motifs such as ghosts, apparitions, transience and reflections coincide with how the narrative develops these issues into a comprehensible understanding. Tragic and sudden loss surrounding the lives of Lucille and especially Ruthie are not an uncommon experience, as it is one that the whole of society can relate with. Coping with tragic loss can be an inexplicable journey, yet throughout the narrative the puzzlement of loss is slowly and carefully pieced together to the extent that the narrator and the reader can come to terms with it and have a clearer understanding of what the novel intends to convey. The narration by Ruthie is framed from memory which is a significant notion tied to the experiences of loss. In being able to retell the entirety of her past from both real and fabricated memories, Ruthie will finally be able to move on from grief and begin to forgive her troubled past.

            In attempting to analyze why the novel is situated in Ruthie’s memory and how it will eventually reconcile her, it is important to first understand Ruthie’s characteristics portrayed in it. One of her stronger traits that begin to come to the surface of her character as she grows up is transience. Transience is a major thematic element in the text. A transient is one who only occupies a space for a short period of time. In the text it is shown to be a mental space as well as a physical one. The mentality of a transient is an inability to connect with the realities that surround them. As a child Ruthie is never really mentally conscious to the events that happen around her. She partakes in them, but is unable to project her true emotions (at least verbally) at the moment, as revealed in Chapter 6, “You’re so quiet. It’s hard to know what you think.” Sylvie stood up and we began to walk home. “I suppose I don’t know what to think.” (Robinson 105)

             Ruthie is a follower. First she follows Lucille in search of the town’s acceptance then Sylvie into the life of a transient. This combined with her wish to not be seen by the outside world will further decline her into a state of loneliness and perplexity. Ruthie’s experiences have inflicted her with pain that is incomprehensible as a child. In effect she struggles with wanting to succumb to oblivion and be a mere shadow. It is interesting to see that transience does not affect Lucille who went through much of the same experiences Ruthie did. But this question is soon answered. As they begin to grow and enter their later adolescence, they begin drifting apart. This is highlighted in Chapter 7. The marker of change in the sisters’ relationship begins to arise;

            
Sometimes we would try to remember our mother, though more and more we disagreed and   even quarreled about what she had been like. Lucille’s mother was orderly, vigorous, and sensible, a widow (more than I ever knew or she could prove) who was killed in an accident. My mother presided over a life so strictly simple and circumscribed that it could not have made any significant demands on her attention. She tended us with a gentle indifference that made me feel she would have liked to have been more alone – she was the abandoner, and not the one abandoned. (Robinson, 109)

Memories of both sisters are different which is significant. Lucille has chosen a memory of their mother that is positive while Ruthie’s memory illustrates a negative picture. This is evident as Lucille will begin to yearn for acceptance from the town and become more involved in contemporary fashions and building friendships outside the home. Ruthie’s personal memory of her mother is a reflection of herself. There is a void in Ruthie that passionately needs to be filled. She eventually chooses Sylvie to fill that void.

            The pivotal moment of Lucille and Ruthie’s separation takes place when they set out to the woods and spent the night there. They begin to construct a house made of driftwood and stone slabs. The house they build is flimsy and the roof falls twice before it gains any stability. It seems they are subconsciously playing out a scene that has a very similar quality to the woman they attempted to build from snow earlier in the novel. The woman they tried to build also would fall apart. There is some significance to notice that any structure they build together fails to become whole. What can the reader make of this? It could signify their attempts on filling in voids that they so desire. As they nestle into their house they are surrounded by darkness. Again Lucille and Ruthie have different memories of this moment as Ruthie claims, “Lucille would tell this story differently.” Ruthie’s version of this memory is cynical and is inspired by the complete darkness that envelops her; “Darkness is the only solvent. While it was dark…it seemed to me that there need not be relic, remnant, margin, residue, memento, bequest, memory, thought, track, or trace, if only darkness could be perfect and permanent;” Thus signifying Ruthie’s desire for oblivion. It seems here that Ruthie is plagued by memory and finds insight in the complete dark. She finds solace in it and a type of peace that can never be achieved in light with eyes gazed upon her. When Lucille and Ruthie find their way back home the next morning, Ruthie contemplates, “I knew that my decay, now obvious and accelerating, should somehow be concealed for decency’s sake.” (Robinson 119). Ruthie realizes that if she sinks into a visible state of depression it might further separate her from Lucille and also build a larger barrier to the outside world.

            After this moment of realization, Ruthie starts to become much more isolated. Her relationship with her sister is at an awkward stage of revulsion. They cease to communicate. However, this catalyzes more of a bond with Sylvie. The episode in Chapter 8 reveals a push toward insight and familial discovery. In an urgent manner, Sylvie wakes Ruthie in the early morning telling her of a surprise. They make their way to a boat where they set off towards a place where Sylvie would secretly go and search for lost children. The scene reveals an eloquent and insightful rumination by Ruthie;

             
If there had been snow I would have made a statue, a woman to stand along the path, among the trees. The children would have come close, to look at her. Lot’s wife was salt and barren, because she was full of loss and mourning, and looked back. But here rare flowers would gleam in her hair, and on her breast, and in her hands, and there would be children all around her, to love and marvel at her for her beauty, and to laugh at the extravagant adornments, as if they had set the flowers in her hair and thrown down all the flowers at her feet, and they would forgive her, eagerly and lavishly, for turning   away, though she never asked to be forgiven (Robinson 153).

This lengthy passage offers a glimmer of Ruthie’s longing to connect with the outside world. This is a facet of some sort of redemptive memory she brings to her conscience. Again the reader is introduced to the statue symbol Ruthie repeatedly brings up. The emphasis on it could symbolize her mother. Furthermore, the Biblical reference to Lot’s wife is provocative. Notably, it is Ruthie (or Robinson) that comes up with the idea that Lot’s wife was full of loss and mourning. It does not mention as to why Lot’s wife looked back in the Bible, but could provide further evidence of the idea that one can project an idea or a memory to help delineate or console one’s conflicted past. The earlier scene in darkness and the wish for oblivion seems to be quelled by this memory and sets Ruthie on a path of forgiveness and reconciliation.

            The episode in Chapter 9 will set off events that will unintentionally secure the bond between Ruthie and Sylvie. When the townspeople of Fingerbone become overly concerned about Ruthie becoming a transient, they intervene and enter into the personal lives of Sylvie and Ruthie. It is not because they share an empathetic concern with Ruthie’s well being, but are more guilt-ridden in witnessing Ruthie’s transformation. Their religious and moral duties enact them to invade Ruthie’s life.  It makes them uncomfortable because it fills them with pity brought on by their definition of a good moral Christian. Furthermore, Ruthie explains, “So the transients wandered through Fingerbone like ghosts, terrifying as ghosts are because they were not very different from us. And so it was important to the town to believe I was rescued, and that rescue was possible.” (Robinson 178). It was an impossibility to see Ruthie fall victim to a life of transience. Upon numerous visits to their household, the neighbors notice a scene of hoarding and un-cleanliness. We begin to see Sylvie’s desire to keep Ruthie as she states the importance of family to stay together; “Families should stay together,” Sylvie said. “They should. There is no other help” (Robinson 186). Unfortunately they fail to convince their neighbors that Ruthie should stay in the care of Sylvie, in which case there will be a hearing to decide their fate. The thought of another separation conjures up in Ruthie an insightful and eloquent message of memory and loss forthcoming in the remainder of the narrative.

            The next chapter reveals Ruthie’s unwillingness to be separated through the retelling of Creation developed by family breakup. Mourning and loss is played out in history and in an eloquent rationalization Ruthie connects it with memory; “Memory is the sense of loss and loss pulls us after it” (Robinson 194). Moreover, once one loses someone, their memory becomes more real than when they were actually physically present. Helen’s disconnect with her children is evident of this notion. Earlier in the narrative Ruthie explains that the memory of her mother is characterized by her indifference which is a reflection on herself as well as Sylvie. More evidence of this comes from Ruthie’s observance of Sylvie in connection with this notion;

             
Sylvie did not want to lose me. She did not want me to grow gigantic and multiple, so that I seemed to fill the whole house, and she did not wish me to turn subtle and miscible, so that I could pass through membranes that separate dream from dream…She much preferred my simple, ordinary presence, silent and ungainly though I might be (Robinson 195).

At this point in the novel Ruthie and Sylvie become inseparable. The mutually need each other, for if they suffer yet another lose that can doom them back into darkness and oblivion. However the question remains; Does Ruthie ever come to a point of reconciliation? The answer could be seen in the bridge.

            After Sylvie and Ruthie come to a point where they can no longer convince their neighbors that they should not be separated, they decide to burn their house down and begin a life of wandering. As they start to cross the bridge something ruminates deep inside Ruthie’s narrative voice and beckons back to a memory that fulfills her with a redemptive image of her mother. The noises and slow movement provided a moment of clarity and demystified the memory of her mother’s indifference that haunted her. She recalls a scene of a park where her mother used to take her. The memory is full of nostalgia and Ruthie concludes, “My mother was happy that day, we did not know why.” (Robinson 213) Even though Ruthie and Sylvie may have been always destined to wander, there is an apparent reconciliation that happens within Ruthie. Their banishment from Fingerbone is not because they willed it to happen in order to wander aimlessly into oblivion. It was because if they stayed the family would be fragmented conclusively. Their housekeeping is not ended with the burning down of the house. However it should signify their willingness to continue on with the housekeeping, by keeping a sense of their family intact.

Works Cited

Robinson, Marilynne. Housekeeping. New York: Picador, 1980.